M. L. AYERS, a pioneer
newspaper man of Stark county, conducts the "Dickinson Press," at
Dickinson, and enjoys popularity and success. He is a young man of
intelligence and activity, and has devoted ins career to newspaper
work and has accomplished much since taking up the same in North
Dakota, and is well known in the newspaper world.

Our subject was born on a farm
in Washington county, Vermont, in 1863, where he was reared and
attended the country school. He later attended the seminary at
Montpelier, Vermont,, and in 1885 went to South Dakota and settled
on government land in Edmunds county. He began newspaper work there,
and worked on papers in Ipswich and remained in Edmunds county two
years. He went to Stark county, North Dakota, in 1887. A colony
called the New England colony made a settlement twenty-five miles
south of Dickinson, and there our subject started a newspaper in
partnership with Col. J. B. Mead, which was styled the "Rainy Butte
Sentinel," Mr. Ayers went to Dickinson in 1890 and purchased the
"Dickinson Press," which was founded in 1883, by J. T. Scott. The
first issue was printed the latter part of March, 1883, and the
circulation of the paper was then but two or three hundred copies,
which has increased to several times that number under the
proprietorship of Mr. Ayers. A well equipped job department is in
connection with .new plant, and this is a source of good income,
while the newspaper work itself has prospered to a remarkable degree
and Mr. Ayers may feel justly proud of his work in North
Dakota.

Our subject is a man of good characteristics
and is a Republican politically and is firm in his convictions
personally, but editorially is conservative as regards party
principles and movements.

JAMES G. CAMPBELL, county judge of Stark county, holds a
foremost place among the attorneys of North Dakota. He resides in
Dickinson, where he has built up a remunerative practice and enjoys
wide acquaintance and an enviable public
record.

Our subject was born in the suburbs of
Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1828, and was a son of Blair Campbell, and
his parents were Scotch. Mr. Campbell came to America in 1849, and
settled in Illinois, where he followed farming until 1861. He then
enlisted in Company F, Nineteenth Illinois Infantry, and entered the
service of the state of Illinois in May, 1861, and the service of
the United States June 17 of the same year. They drilled in Chicago
three weeks, and were then sent to Missouri and served in different
parts of that state, and during the summer went to Kentucky and from
there, in September, to Cincinnati, and then back to Kentucky, and
spent the winter at Bacon Creek. In February, 1862, they went to
Bowling Green, Kentucky, and after its capture moved to Nashville,
and then went to Huntsville, Alabama, and cut the rebel
communication there. When General Buell with his army went north
from his position in northern Alabama and middle Tennessee to head
of General Bragg"s army in its dash for the Ohio river, his regiment
returned to Nashville, and formed part of the garrison under General
Negley which held that city till relieved by the army of General
Rosecrans after the battle of Perryville, and then were engaged at
the battle of Stone River. They formed a part of the .Army of the
Cumberland under Rosecrans, and were with the .Army of the
Cumberland at Chickamauga, and next were part of the garrison at
Chattanooga. Our subject was wounded through the body at the battle
of Missionary Ridge September 25, and was sent to the hospital, and
was on a leave of absence until the following March, when he joined
his regiment in Georgia. He was with Sherman as far as Marietta,
Georgia, and was then sent to Chicago, and was mustered out of the
service July 9, 1863. He saw a little over three years of active
service, and was mustered in as a sergeant and left the service with
the rank of captain, his commission as such dating from the day his
predecessor was killed at the battle of Stone River, January 2,
1863.

After his return from the war Mr.
Campbell began the study of law, and also followed the hardware
business at Virginia, Illinois, and was admitted to the bar and
began the practice of law at Muskegon, Michigan. He continued the
practice of his profession there some ten or fifteen years, and in
the meantime purchased and edited the "Muskegon Journal," which was
published as a daily and weekly paper. Our subject went to
Dickinson, North Dakota, in 1882, and entered a homestead claim to
land nine miles from Dickinson, which he continued to farm for three
years. He moved to the town of Dickinson in 1886, and established
his office there for the practice of his profession, and has
prospered since locating there.

Our subject was married at Virginia, Illinois,
in 1865, to Miss Martha Hitchcock, who was born in the state of New
York. Mrs. Campbell was a daughter of Alvin Hitchcock, a lumber
merchant. She died in Illinois, leaving one child named Archibald J.
Mr. Campbell was married to Miss Alice Davis in Michigan, in 1878.
Mrs. Campbell was born at Muskegon, Michigan, and was a daughter of
Theodore Davis, a native of Maine. Nine children have been born to
this union, who are as follows : Clyde Leith, Glenlyon, died in
childhood; Alice Isabelle, Nina Lucy, Clarence Argyle, James
Douglass, lone Genevieve and Theodore Blair. Mr. Campbell was
appointed county commissioner by Governor Ordway in the summer of
1883. He was appointed probate judge and afterward elected to the
same office, serving two terms, and in 1888 was elected district
attorney and served one term. He was elected county judge in 1890,
and has been re-elected four times, and is now serving in that
office. Mr. Campbell is a Republican in political sentiment, and is
prominent in affairs of his party. He holds membership in the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Masonic fraternity. He was
among the first settlers of the vicinity of Dickinson and well
merits his high standing and success.

GILBERT S. CRYNE, one of the oldest
pioneers of Stark county, enjoys the comforts of a rural home near
Gladstone, and does an extensive dairying business. He was born in
South Westerlo, Albany county. New York, January 7. 1839. His
father. John Cryne, was a fanner and currier, and later in life
followed farming near Sheboygan. Wisconsin. He was of German
descent. The grandfather of our subject. Peter Krine, was also a
farmer by occupation. The great-grandfather of our subject was born
at Hesse Darmstadt. Germany, and came as a soldier with Queen Ann's
troops to New Amsterdam, now New York. He bore the name of Peter
Krine, and married a Holland woman, and for this was granted
seventy-two acres of land one mile west of Boston Corners, the
conjunction of the three states, Massachusetts. Connecticut and New
York.

Our subject's grandfather and
great-grandfather fought in the Revolutionary war. Our subject's
mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Robins, was of Dutch descent,
and was a descendant of the Knickerbockers of New York. Gilbert S.
Cryne was the elder of two children, and was raised in the village
and attended the common schools, and in 1851 moved with his parents
to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where the father followed farming and grew
to manhood, and from his boyhood days assisted in the support of his
parents. He remained at home until 1863, and then moved to Fond du
Lac, Wisconsin, and followed the carpenter's trade there a few
years, after which he went to work in the La Belle Wagon Works, and
was employed there until 1881. He was made mechanical superintendent
of the establishment, and the responsibility of the position
impaired his health. He went to North Dakota in 1882, stopping at
Gladstone, and is the oldest continuous settler of Gladstone now
residing there. His family joined him in August of that year, and he
erected a store and established the first hardware business in the
town, which he conducted two years. He then moved to his homestead a
mile and a half from Gladstone and built up what is known as Stone
Grange farm. He resided there until 1890. and then removed to his
present location, where he has continued in the stock raising and
dairying business. He has a cream separator and keeps about one
hundred head of cattle and from twenty to thirty horses, and has met
with most pleasing results in both lines of
farming.

Mr. Cryne was married at Scott, Sheboygan
county, Wisconsin, November 1, 1863, to Miss Abagail Fancher. Mrs.
Cryne was born in Spring, Steuben county. New York, and was a
daughter of Rev. Fancher, a minister of the Christian denomination.
The family has been in America many generations and were soldiers in
the Revolution. Five daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cryne,
who are named as follows: Margaret D., born at Batavia. Wisconsin,
March 22, 1865, died October I0, 1866; Estelle A., born December 24,
1866, at Batavia, Wisconsin, and is married and resides in Dakota;
Orissa A., born August 12, 1869, at Fond du Lac. Wisconsin, now
married and living in Dakota; Mary M., born at Fond du Lac,
Wisconsin, October 31, 1873. now married and living in Dakota : and
Gilbertine D., born at Gladstone, North Dakota. May 23, 1887. Mr.
Cryne is a prominent old settler, and is historian of the Old
Settlers" Association, of which W. B. Powers is president. Mr. Cryne
is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and politically
he is a Democrat.

HOMER
A. DAVIS. M. D., physician and
surgeon of Dickinson, is well known throughout Stark county, has
built for himself a lucrative practice since his location in that
county in 1892.

Dr. Davis was born in Canada in 1858, the
elder of two children born to Henry and Eleanor (Stannbridge) Davis,
the former a native of Maine and a resident of Lewiston. and a
school teacher and a graduate of the Dansville Academy. The mother
was a native of London, England.

When our subject was but three months of
age his parents took him from Canada to Lewiston, Maine, where he
was reared and educated, finishing his schooling at Fitzwilliam, New
Hampshire, from the high school of which place he was graduated at
the age of fifteen. His father was killed at the close of the war of
the Rebellion, at Mt. Pleasant, Alabama, and our subject, at the age
of fifteen, came west to Illinois. There he taught for two years,
and then returned to New Hampshire, where he engaged in the granite
business, which he followed about ten years. It was in 1888 that he
began his study of medicine. He entered the medical department of
Dartmouth College, and was graduated from that institution with the
degree of M. D. in 1892.

Immediately after the conferring of his
degree he came to Dickinson and began the practice of medicine. He
has succeeded to a marked degree, and has won for himself an
enviable place in the ranks of his profession. In 1894 he purchased
a share in a drug business in Dickinson, of which he now owns a
controlling interest. In addition to the usual stock of a western
drug store they carry a heavy line of druggists sundries. The stock
is valued at nine thousand dollars.

Dr. Davis was married in New Hampshire,
in 1880, to Miss Florence I. Davis, a talented musician and
accomplished lady. To this union three children were born, namely:
Harold, who was graduated from the Dickinson high school at the age
of seventeen years, served in the Philippines with the North Dakota
Volunteers and was promoted to corporal. He died on the return
voyage on board ship. Homer, who was graduated from the Dickinson
high school at the age of fifteen, and is now engaged in the drug
business with his father. Florence, now twelve years of age, and a
natural musician, playing the piano with remarkable ability for a
child of her age. The mother died in 1888.

Dr. Davis married Miss Anna Downer in
1889. Mrs. Davis is a native of Keene, New Hampshire, where she was
reared to womanhood. She received a good musical education. She
presides over the Doctor's home with grace, and the hospitality
extended the visitor is marked with a refinement not too often met
with in western homes. Mrs. Davis received her musical education at
Keene, New Hampshire, her best training being received from private
instructors, among them Prof. Ernst Perabo, a noted musician of
Boston, Massachusetts.

Dr. Davis has always been a Republican in
political faith and has taken an active interest in pubic affairs in
the community and county. He has been county physician for six years
and president of the county board of health for five years. He is
popular as a man and successful as a physician and merits the high
esteem in which he is held.

LISANDER A. DAVIS
, a prosperous and popular dealer in furniture and undertakers
supplies, has his home and business in Dickinson, and has been a
resident of Stark county from its pioneer days.

Mr. Davis was born in the
state of New York on a farm in Franklin county, March 30, 1855. His
father, Jonathan Davis, was a native of New York and a farmer by
occupation, and the grandfather, Jonathan Davis and also the
great-grandfather, Daniel Davis, were natives of England. The mother
of our subject was Elmyra Fletcher, who was born in Vermont and
married in New York. Lisander A. Davis was the fifth child in a
family of eight children, and was reared on a farm, where he found
plenty of hard work. His education was obtained in the district
school, which was two miles from his home. At the age of twenty-one
years he and his brother Newton took charge of the farm, paying to
their sisters their shares of the estate in money. The farm
consisted of one hundred and twenty-five acres, and they conducted
it for six years. In 1883 Mr. Davis came to Dakota, and located in
Dickinson, and started carpentering, a trade he had learned in the
east. He also took up a homestead, and lived on it for the first two
years, riding to town daily to his work. In 1884 he took a partner
and they began the contracting business. This connection continued
for about two years. From 1886 in 1892 Mr. Davis was alone in the
same business. In 1884 he added a small stock of undertakers goods
to his business, keeping the same in his carpenter shop. The
business increased with the growth and settlement of the community,
and he had a large business by the beginning of the year 1892. That
year he was unfortunate in the failure of his health, and for five
years thereafter was unable to do any hard work. In 1897 he put in a
stock of furniture, and he now occupies a store building 25x70 feet,
and his business has prospered.

Mr. Davis was
married in New York, in 1880, Mr. Davis was married in New York, in
1880, to Miss Janette Fletcher. Mrs. Davis was born in New York
state, and her father was Parker Fletcher, a farmer by occupation.
The family has been in America for many generations. Mr. and Mrs.
Davis have two children: Arthur, born November 18, 1881, and Clara,
born July 30, 1887. When Mr, Davis came to Dickinson his entire
property consisted of his set of carpenter's tools. He now owns a
valuable business, his building and residence property. He was among
the earliest settlers of Dickinson, and helped to erect a good share
of its buildings the first few years. He experienced all the trials
incident to pioneer life, including the claim shanty period. No man
is better acquainted with the history of Stark county, and no one
better posted upon its resources and advantages. He is a Republican
in political sentiment, and takes an active interest in public
affairs. He was justice of the peace at Dickinson from 1890 to 1896.
He is a member in good standing of the I. O. O. F.

HORACE L. DICKINSON. In the multiplicity of business
enterprises in which Mr. Horace L. Dickinson has embarked he has
invariably met with prosperity and is one of the successful business
men of Dickinson, Stark county. North Dakota.

He was born on a farm in Franklin county,
New York, February 6, 1839. Horace Dickinson, the father of the
subject of this biography, was born in Vermont, and was a blacksmith
by trade and later in life followed farming. The mother, whose
maiden name was Maria Lawrence, died when young Horace was but three
weeks of age. She was of American descent.

Mr. Dickinson was one of four children
and was raised on a farm in New York. He remained with his father
until he was twenty-seven years of age. and after attaining his
majority assumed charge of the farm on account of the ill health of
his father. He engaged in farming and in the dairy business and
conducted an estate covering one hundred and fifty acres. In 1868
Mr. Dickinson built a creamery and operated the same one season and
then followed the lumbering and starch manufacturing business until
1881, when he sold the business and went to North Dakota to locate
land and the following year began permanent residence there. He
located a half mile west of Dickinson, going to that locality with
his cousin, W. S. Dickinson, for whom the town of Dickinson was
named. In the spring of 1883 the town was platted by Hon. W. S.
Dickinson. Mr. H. L. Dickinson has taken an active part in the
growth of the town. They continued farming there until 1888 and then
sold to a New York syndicate. The subject of this writing conducted
the farm for them three years. He moved to Dickinson in 1891 and
engaged in the mercantile business with Hon. N. C. Lawrence, and in
the fall of 1897 purchased his interests and formed a stock company
which now conducts the business under the name of the Dickinson
Mercantile Company. Mr. Dickinson is president and his brother, L.
J. Dickinson, is secretary. The business has prospered since the
organization of the company and carries a general line of
merchandise. He is also largely interested in stock and sheep
raising. He is also interested in the First National Bank and is one
of the directors of the bank.

Our subject was married, in 1866, to Miss
Sarah G. Chandler, a native of Moira, New York. Mrs. Dickinson is a
daughter of Josiah Chandler, of New Hampshire, who engaged in
farming. She was a school teacher and followed that profession for
some time prior to her marriage. Mrs. Dickinson died in 1881. One
child was born to Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson, a son, who was born in
Moira, New York, and was named Guy H. Mr. Dickinson was married, in
1891, to Mrs. H. A. Stoughton.

Mr. Dickinson was the first county commissioner
of Stark county, being appointed by Governor Ordway, and was elected
to the office for a second term and was a popular officer. He took
an active part in the organization of Stark county, and was one of
the pioneer settlers of that region and aided in its advancement,
and well merits his success in North Dakota.

MARTIN O. DYVSVEN is one of the prominent and prosperous
merchants of Taylor, Stark county. He is a pioneer settler of North
Dakota and has aided materially in the up building of the business
and social interests of the locality in which he has made his home.
He follows the general merchandise business in partnership with C.
H. Engen, H. Halvorson and Louis Bergon, and has full charge of the
establishment, as the other members of the firm are engaged in other
pursuits. The business has prospered under Mr. Dyvsven"s guidance
and control.

Mr. Dyvsven was born in the central part
of Norway, January 20, 1865. His father, Ole Ole-son, is a native of
Norway, and still resides there, as is also the mother, whose maiden
name was Siri Madson. Our subject is the oldest in a family of six
children and was raised on a farm and received a limited education.
At the age of sixteen years he began to learn the carpenter's trade
and spent five years as an apprentice and then followed his trade in
Norway until he came to America, in 1888. He went from New York to
Minnesota and spent a year and a half there at his trade and then
went to West Superior, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1891 and followed
his trade there until the spring of 1893, when he came to North
Dakota. He settled at Taylor and established in the lumber business
and conducted the first regular lumber yard in the town and
continued in that business until 1899. The mercantile business in
which he is now interested was established in February, 1898, and
during the past year or two Mr. Dyvsven has devoted his attention to
that line of business, having disposed of the lumber yard to L. T.
Louis in 1899. The store is one of the largest in the west end of
the county and carries a stock amounting to ten thousand dollars,
including groceries, dry goods, shoes, clothing,
etc.

Mr. Dyvsven was among the pioneers of
Taylor and has done his full share in its up building and commands
the esteem of all with whom he has to do. He is a Republican
politically and takes a hearty interest in the affairs of his
township and community.

HON. CHARLES E. GREGORY

. The profession of
law is well represented in North Dakota, and practical skill and
theoretical knowledge place many in the foreground, and a prominent
place among that number is accorded the gentleman herein named. He
has been associate gentleman herein named. He has been associated
intimately with the development of the state and is one of the
pioneer attorneys and enjoys a growing professional patronage both
in his own home, and from abroad.

Our subject was born in Nauvoo, Hancock
county, Illinois, in 1858. His father, Edwin Gregory, was an
American, and was a farmer by occupation. The family has been in
America many generations and have served in all the wars of this
country, the great-grandfather, Peter Gregory, serving in the
Revolutionary war. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of
Annie Lane. She was of Scotch descent and her family settled in
America prior to the Revolution.

Mr. Gregory was the eldest in a family of
three children, and was reared in Rochelle, Illinois, and attended
the public schools there, and later graduated from the State
University of Illinois, with the degree of B. A. He later graduated
from the Union College of Law in Chicago, in 1880, with the degree
of B. L. He went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1880 and was
employed in the office of Senator Frank Pettigrew, and in 1882 went
to Carrington. North Dakota, where he established a law and land
office, and was appointed clerk of the district court. He was active
in the organization of Foster county, and took a homestead where the
town of New Rockford now stands, and it was largely through his
efforts that the county was divided into Foster and Eddy counties.
In 1887 he went to Minot, and there engaged in the practice of his
profession exclusively, and while residing there was elected states
attorney of Ward county, and served two terms, and then served four
years in the state senate. He held the office of grand chancellor of
North Dakota in the Knights of Pythias lodge while there, and was
prominent in social and business affairs of that region. He went to
Fargo, North Dakota, in 1895, and practiced law there until the
spring of 1898, when he enlisted in the Rough Riders, and was
commissioned captain of Troop G, of Grigsby's Rough Riders. During
the time of their encampment in Georgia they met with severe losses
by disease, and at times there were hardly enough well men to care
for the sick. He served five months, and then returned to North
Dakota, and took up the practice of his profession in Dickinson in
the summer of 1899. He enjoys an increasing practice and is one of
the rapidly rising attorneys of the state.

Our subject was married, in the summer of 1899,
to Helen M. Drake, a native of Marshall, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs.
Gregory are the parents of one child, who bears the name of Helen,
and was born at St. Paul, Minnesota. Mr. Gregory was a candidate
before the Republican convention for nomination for attorney general
of North Dakota in 1894, and in 1900 was the nominee of the
Republican party for state's attorney of Stark county. He is
prominent in secret society circles and is a member of the Knights
of Pythias and Masonic fraternity, and has passed the thirty-second
degree in the last named order.

ANDREW JOPP, one of the early settlers of Stark
county, conducts an extensive general merchandise store in Gladstone
and enjoys prosperity. He was born in a village in the eastern part
of Germany, November 9, 1839.

The father of our subject, Andrew Jopp,
was a carpenter by trade. The mother of our subject was of Polish
descent and bore the maiden name of Justina Broniewski. The parents
were married in Germany and of their family of eight children our
subject was the fifth in order of birth. He was educated in his
native village and at the age of fifteen years was apprenticed to
learn the tailor's trade, which required five years, after which he
spent three years in the German army, being a member of the
Fifty-eighth German Infantry. He came to America in 1865, landing at
Castle Garden, New York, and was engaged in that locality at truck
gardening for about six months, and then followed his trade in New
York city fifteen years, the last two years of which time he
conducted a business for himself. He went to Wisconsin in March.
1881. and spent fifteen months in search of a good location there
for business, and in April, 1882, went to Gladstone, North Dakota,
and entered claim to land. He established a small tailor shop in
Gladstone and built the first comfortable house in the town, and in
connection with his tailor business kept a small line of gents"
furnishings. He has erected a good-sized store, and carries a
general line of goods and enjoys a good
patronage.

Our subject was married, in July, 1888, to Miss
Louisa Vandt, who was born in the same village in Germany as our
subject, and came to America alone in 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Jopp are
the parents of three children, named as follows: Elsie, born in
1891; Grover, born in 1893; and Gretchen, born in 1894. :Mr. Jopp
was elected county commissioner twice, and has served as such six
years. He was appointed postmaster of Gladstone under Cleveland's
administration, and served from May, 1896, until July, 1898. He is
active in public affairs, and is identified with the Republican
party politically.

FRED
KOESEL, the pioneer
merchant of Richardton. Stark county, is widely known in business
circles, and enjoys an extensive patronage. He is a member of the
firm of Koesel & Company, who conduct general merchandise
establishments in Gladstone, Antelope and Richardton. They have
prospered in North Dakota, and are held in high esteem by all with
whom they come in contact.

Mr. Koesel was born on a farm in Germany,
June 5, 1870. His father. Fred Koesel, came to America from Germany
with his family and settled in Indiana, and in 1885 went to North
Dakota. He was a soldier in the German army, and married Elinor
Lubbe. The subject of this article was the eldest of a family of
three children, and was reared on a farm and attended the country
schools and also a college in Missouri one year. He came to North
Dakota with his parents in 1885 and began farming and stock raising
for himself at the age of twenty-one years. He continued this line
of labor in Morton county until 1894. He then entered into
partnership with his brothers, August and Albert Koesel, under the
firm name of Koesel & Company. They opened the first store at
Antelope in 1894. and Fred Koesel conducted the business there three
years, and in 1897 established a house at Richardton and has since
had charge of the business there. He is also interested in a store
at Gladstone, which is in charge of Albert Koesel, while the store
in Antelope is managed by August Koesel. They conduct jointly the
largest mercantile business of any firm in the county, and the
building occupied by the firm in Richardton is 24x64 feet, with
warehouses and other buildings adjoining. The firm also engages
extensively in cattle raising. They were among the first settlers of
Stark county, and from a limited start have acquired a fortune and a
liberal trade.

Fred Koesel was married, in 1897, to Miss
Bertha Ott, a native of Wisconsin. Mrs. Koesel is a daughter of Adam
Ott, a native of Germany, who came to America in 1867 and settled in
Wisconsin, and later became an old settler of North Dakota. Mr.
Koesel was the choice of the Republican party for county
commissioner in 1900. He is prominent in local affairs and is an
influential citizen.

CHARLES
KONO, sheriff of Stark
county, was born in Germany, September 29, 1859. His father, Carl
Kono, was a farmer, and came to America when Charles was five or six
years of age. The family left Hamburg, landed in New York and
proceeded to Wisconsin, where the father began farming. He was
killed by a runaway team when our subject was nine years of age.
Charles Kono thus began his career when a mere child, as he at once
hired out at herding sheep at one dollar per week and board. He
later worked at farm work and his school advantages were very
limited. The county schools were very inferior and the farm work
occupied the greater portion of his time.

In 1882 Charles Kono came to North
Dakota, stopping first at Gladstone, April 29th. At that time there
were only side tracks west of Mandan, and our subject took up
government land and erected a shanty 10x12 feet, which blew down in
a storm. He then erected another 12x16. He "batched it" most of the
time for nine years. His team was a yoke of oxen at first and later
he bought a team of mules. While at Gladstone, about two weeks after
his arrival, he was attacked by the measles. He did not have the
proper care and took cold before he had entirely recovered and was
again confined to his bed and lost more than a month in this way,
and was troubled with it so much that he was unable to but little
work during the entire summer. He had to sleep in any place he could
find, and at one time cut grass with a jack-knife for beds, carrying
it two miles on his, back, in this way providing a bed for himself
and another for a lady of the party. He was among the earliest
pioneers of the county and for a time did a freighting business
between the Northern Pacific and the Black Hills, carrying the first
outfit to that region from Dickinson to Deadwood. He is now the
owner of one hundred and sixty acres of valuable lands, half of
which is cultivated annually and the balance in pasture. He followed
grain raising; for a few years, but now is engaged in stock raising
almost exclusively.

Mr. Kono was married, in 1889, to Miss
Bessie Birdsall, daughter of Joseph Birdsall. Her family have been
Americans for many generations. Mr. and Mrs. Kono are the parents of
five children, namely: Hattie, Edna, Perry Birdsall, Watson Charles
and one unmarried, all of whom were born on the farm in Dakota. Mr.
Kono is a Republican in political sentiment and has been active in
political matters in the county. He was nominated for sheriff in
1896 and was elected, although he had neither sought the office nor
made a canvass for votes. He was re-elected in 1898 on an
independent ticket, receiving a majority of all the votes cast,
although there were two other candidates in the field. He is this
year candidate on the Republican ticket for county judge and his
faithfulness to duty and his long residence and popularity in the
county will no doubt secure for him this honorable position. No man
in the county is better posted upon the history and development of
that section of North Dakota and no one is more favorably known in
the county.

GEORGE W. LEE

.
An enviable reputation has been gained by this gentleman in North
Dakota. He is one of the pioneer settlers of Stark county and among
the foremost business men of the county, having his residence in
Gladstone, where he is associated with the extensive financial
interests of that locality. He is a young man of excellent
capabilities and has made the most of his is a young man of
excellent capabilities and has made the most of his opportunities
and has reaped a just reward.

Our subject was born on a farm near
Suttons Bay, Michigan, December 20, 1869. His father, Robert Lee,
was born in Yorkshire, England, and came to America at the age of
twelve years. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was
Elizabeth Wiegand, was born in America.

Mr. Lee was the second in a family of six
children and was raised on a farm until twelve years of age, when
the family removed to Northport, Michigan, and there the father
engaged in the milling business, and owned a saw and flour-mill. Our
subject was educated in the common schools and graduated from Mayhew
Business College at Detroit, Michigan. He went to North Dakota in
1883 and settled near Gladstone on a farm and entered claim to
government land. His father built the Gladstone Roller Mill in 1885,
which is still the only mill in Stark county. Our subject worked for
his father several years and after the father's death, in 1893, the
property was divided and the mill was allotted to our subject.

Mr. Lee began farming again in 1898 and
now owns and operates four hundred and eighty acres of land and
engages wholly in wheat raising. He embarked in the lumber business
in Gladstone in 1895 and conducts the only lumber yard in the town.
He also engages in horse raising to some extent. He conducts the
niill and has made a success of the business. The mill is a
one-hundred-barrel capacity mill and has various warehouses, etc.,
and is equipped with a seventy-five-horse-power Corliss engine and a
dynamo which lights the mill by electricity.

Our subject was married, at Northport,
Michigan, in 1881, to Miss Jennette White, a native of Michigan, of
Yankee descent. Her father, Otis L. White, was a farmer by
occupation. Mr. and Mrs. Lee are the parents of two children: Rufus,
born in 1882, and Hazel, born in 1889. Mr. Lee was elected county
treasurer in 1890 and re-elected in 1892 and served two terms, since
which time he has served as county commissioner of the second
district, having been elected to the office twice. He is a
Republican politically and is a leader of his party in Stark county,
and attends county and state conventions. He holds membership in the
Masonic fraternity.

JEREMIAH S. LETTS, proprietor of the hotel at Gladstone,
Stark county. North Dakota, is one of the leading business men of
that place. He is the oldest settler in Gladstone, now living in
that city, although his residence there has not been continuous
since his first settlement. He has taken an active and commendable
interest in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the locality in
which he lives, and his genial ways have made him many friend among
both his fellow townsmen and the traveling
public.

WILLIAM A. McCLURE. This gentleman is a
member of the well-known firm of Leutz & McClure, dealers in
general merchandise, lumber and machinery, in Taylor, North Dakota.
Mr. McClure is a pioneer settler of Stark county, and by his energy
and enterprise has gained an assured position as a business man and
citizen. He was born in the village of Pleasant Hill, now Wingate,
Montgomery county, Indiana, April 23, 1858.

The father of the subject of this sketch,
John L. McClure, was a farmer by occupation and followed that
throughout his life. He was a soldier in the Civil war. Our subject
was the eldest in a family of seven children and was raised in the
village and assisted with farming, and remained at home until
twenty-three years of age. He learned telegraphy and accepted a
position in his native town and in 1884 went to North Dakota and
worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company as operator and
agent at nearly every town between Mandan and Dickinson. He stopped
railroad work about 1890 and engaged in sheep raising on a ranch
north of Hebron and was thus engaged about two years. In 1892 he
engaged in the mercantile business at Richardson, purchasing an
interest with Krauth & Leutz, which he sold in 1896 and went to
Taylor, Stark county, and has since followed the farming implement
and lumber business there. He later succeeded L. T. Lewis, general
merchant, and about 1898 purchased the business of J. M. Tracy, with
two stores being consolidated. The firm is now composed of Herman
Leutz, Ferdinand Leutz and W. A. McClure, and is conducting business
under the firm name of Leutz & McClure. They carry a stock of
$20,000 and four clerks are at work aside from the proprietors. Mr.
McClure was appointed postmaster of Taylor in February, 1899, and is
now serving in that capacity and is an efficient and popular
officer.

Our subject was married, in 1895, to Miss Mary
Gallagher. Mrs. McClure is well known as one of the early educators
of North Dakota, and served several terms as county superintendent
of schools of Mercer county. She is a daughter of John Gallagher, a
native of Ireland, and a prosperous ranchman of Mercer county. Two
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. McClure, who are named as
follows: Caroline, born March 29, 1896; and Grace, born November 19,
1897. Mr. McClure has resided in Stark county since its organization
and has served as county commissioner two terms, the first in 1894
and he is now on his second term. Mr. McClure received the
nomination of his party for the legislature in the thirty-first
district in July, 1900. He is active in public affairs and is
identified with the Republican party politically.

EMMEL F. MESSERSMITH. No one of the citizens of Stark county
is better known or more highly respected than Mr. Messersmith. He is
engaged in stock raising and real estate business, and has followed
various pursuits in North Dakota, all with the most successful
results. His active public spirit is commendable, and he enjoys
popularity for the active part he has taken in the development of
Dickinson and vicinity, and many of the public enterprises of Stark
county are traceable to his influence and hearty
support.

Our subject was born in St. Louis,
Missouri, in 1845. His father, George Messersmith, was born in
Hesse, Germany, and was a weaver by trade. He came to America about
1840. He had eleven brothers and one sister, and they all came to
America and the brothers took part in the Civil war, some on the
Confederate side and some on the Union side. Two brothers were
killed in the Confederate service. The great-grandfather of our
subject, Joe Rinehart, was among the Hessians captured by
Washington, and his stay in America covered eight years, when he
returned to Germany. The family of Messersmiths came to America in
1801 or 1802.

Our subject was the second in a family of
five children, and at the age of fourteen years left home and earned
his own livelihood. He served with the troops in the rebellion on
the army transports from Galveston to New Orleans, and up all the
tributaries of the Mississippi in the south, and up the Ohio, Red,
Mississippi and Missouri rivers in Minnesota and Montana, and spent
five years in this service. He was an eye-witness when the boat
Sultana with two thousand four hundred troops was blown up. After
the close of the war he went to Iowa and established a butcher
business at Strawberry Point, and continued there three years. He
went to Minnesota in 1870 and established his family in a home in
St. Paul, and then began railroad work for the Northern Pacific
Railroad Company, and was with different construction men from St.
Paul to Glendive, Montana, and followed this occupation from 1870 to
1881. He was in Fargo before a house was built, and when soldiers
had to protect the graders along the line of railroad in Dakota. He
put up the first sign in Jamestown on the Jamestown Hotel, which was
a large tent, and the town was then called James River Crossing. In
1881 Mr. Messersmith settled with his family at Dickinson. The
railroad company built a small portable shack and our subject
conducted the first eating house there for the accommodation of
passengers on the Northern Pacific Railroad, and continued the
business two years until the dining car service was established on
that line. In 1883 he shipped the first bunch of cattle into Stark
county, and continued the stock business until 1886, when he engaged
in the flour and feed business and remained thus engaged about
thirteen years. He disposed of the business in the summer of 1899.
and now devotes his attention to stock raising and the real estate
business. He has followed the former most of the time in which he
engaged in the four and feed business, and he conducts the same on
an extensive scale, and has made a success. He was among the first
settlers of Stark county, and was the first business man of
Dickinson, and built the first residence in the town. He spent much
time and a residence in the town. He spent much time and means in
research for clays for brick and pottery manufacture, and through
his efforts a brick plant is now in operation in
Dickinson.

Our subject was married, in 1870, to Miss
Bertha Gupser, a native of Missouri. Her father, Michael Gupser, was
a capitalist. He was of Swiss descent and the mother was of German
descent. Mr. and Mrs. Messersmith are the parents of five children,
who are named as follows : Rose. Carrie, Joseph, Emma and Jessie.
Mr. Messersmith is prominent in local affairs, and was instrumental
in getting the county of Stark enlarged. He is a Republican
politically, and is firm in his convictions.

W. L. RICHARDS. A prominent place
in the business affairs of Stark county is awarded to the gentleman
here named. He is president of the Dakota State Bank at Dickinson,
and is also interested largely in the ranch business in that region,
and is a well-to-do and wide-awake citizen of his locality.

Our subject was born in a village in
Randolph county. Alabama, August 16, 1862. His father, T. S.
Richards, was a merchant in the early days, and is now a hotel
keeper in Texas. He is of English descent, and the family came to
America in colonial days. He served as captain during the Civil war.
The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Mary Lawson, was
raised in Texas, and was of Irish descent.

Our subject was the eldest of a family of
ten children, and was raised on the frontier in Texas and attended
the county schools. He left home al the age of eighteen years, and
went to the cattle ranches of Texas and followed ranching and the
life of a cowboy for seven years in Texas. He then went to North
Dakota and settled eighty miles northwest of Dickinson, and worked
on a ranch there until 1889, and then assumed management of a ranch
forty-five miles north of Dickinson for W. L. Crosby, of La Crosse,
Wisconsin, and continued to manage the ranch until the death of Mr.
Crosby in 1892. After Mr. Crosby's death the ranch went into the
hands of the Crosby Cattle Company, and our subject continued its
management and our subject continued its management until 1897,
being a shareholder in the company. In 1897 the company closed its
affairs, and Mr. Richards continued in the stock business, and is
now the owner of the ranch, which is known as the "Old Diamond C."
ranch. This was one of the most extensive ranches of the state, and
at one time our subject had charge of five thousand head of stock.
In the fall of 1898 Mr. Richards removed to Dickinson. Stark county,
and established the Dakota State Bank, of which he is president, and
J. L. Hughes is cashier. The bank was opened for business March 14,
1900, and does a good and growing business.

Our subject was married, in 1893. to Miss Mabel
Smith, a native of New York, and a daughter of Fayette M. Smith, a
hotel keeper of Hebron. North Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. Richards have two
sons, named Wilson Crosby and Thomas Franklin, both of whom were
born in North Dakota. Mr. Richards is a member of the Masonic
fraternity, and politically is a Democrat.

ROLLIN J.
TURNER, a prosperous
merchant of Gladstone, Stark county. North Dakota, has been a
resident of the state for eighteen years, and is the present
efficient postmaster of Gladstone.

Mr. Turner was born July 16, 1850, at
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and is a son of John D. and Matilda (Harpan)
Turner, natives, respectively, of Ohio and Pennsylvania. His father
is dead, but his mother is still living at the venerable age of
eighty-four. The elder Turner went to Fond du Lac while still a
young man and engaged in farming, and this was his occupation as
long as he lived. He was the father of nine children, six boys and
three girls, and all of these are dead but the subject of this
article, two of his brothers and two sisters. Two of his sons laid
down their lives as a sacrifice for the nation during the Civil war
and are reverently remembered by the new
generation.

Rollin J. Turner was reared on the
parental farm and resided at home until he had passed his eighteenth
year. He was a student in the public schools of Fond du Lac, and
when he reached the age of seventeen became an apprentice at the
apprentice at the trade of joiner and builder. For the next ten
years this was his occupation mainly in Wisconsin. And during the
latter part of this period he was principally engaged in contracting
and building. In the spring of 1882 he came to Gladstone and the
following year he put up a store building, in which he opened a
general store in 1884. In 1883 he brought his family west and they
settled on a homestead one mile south of Gladstone. He has
materially increased his holdings and now owns four hundred acres of
choice land, one hundred and sixty of which are under high
cultivation, the balance of his land being used as a pasture and
meadow for a large herd of horses. He has erected a commodious and
elegant dwelling house, planted trees and has put up barns and sheds
sufficient to meet all demands of rural live in the Northwest. The
family residence is nicely situated in a nook between the hills and
Heart river. Several fine springs of good water rush out from the
hill sides and give an abundant supply of excellent water for all
purposes, including the irrigation of the garden and
groves.

Mr. Turner and Miss Mary H. Heathcote
were married at Fond du Lac. Wisconsin, December 20, 1871. She was
born in New York and was brought to Wisconsin at an early age by her
parents, William and Jane M (Wherry) Heathcote, both natives of the
Empire state. Her father was an architect, and is still living at an
advanced age. Her mother is dead. Mr. and Mrs. Turner are the
parents of three children, two of whom, Claude C. and Vivian, are
now living. Guy, the first born, died at the age of two years. Mr.
Turner was the first assessor of Stark county, and was elected in
1884. He was appointed postmaster by President Harrison in 1887. and
has held this position since that time, with the exception of one
and one-half years. He
was appointed by Governor Fancher a member of the state penitentiary
board in 1898 and is still serving the state in that capacity. July
11, 1900, at a state convention held in Grand Forks, he was
nominated for the position of commissioner of agriculture and labor
and has bright prospect of election. He is a representative
Republican and was chairman of the county central committee of his
party from 1886 to 1893. In 1894 and 1895 he was a member of the
state central committee and is known throughout the state as an
active and reliable worker for party interests and an honorable and
intelligent gentleman. He is a member of the Independent Order of
Foresters and is a popular character at all social gatherings.

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